Revised estimates of the Underground Economy: Implications of US Currency held abroad

Feige, Edgar L. (1997): Revised estimates of the Underground Economy: Implications of US Currency held abroad. Published in: The Underground Economy; Global evidence of its impact and size (1997): pp. 151-208.

Abstract

The paper reexamines the strengths and weakness of all direct and indirect methods of estimating the amount of US currency held abroad and concludes that between 25% -45% of US currency is held abroad. This result stands in sharp contrast to the widely cited estimates presented by Porter and Judson (1996) who claim that between 55% -70% of US currency is held abroad. The new estimates of currency held abroad are used to derive a domestic currency series which is then employed in a conventional currency ratio model to estimate the size and growth of the unreported economy in the US between 1973 and 1994.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Underground Economy; Unreported Economy; Unrecorded Economy; Currency Abroad; Shadow Economy; Tax gap; Location of US Currency
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E51 - Money Supply ; Credit ; Money Multipliers; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs > C82 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data ; Data Access; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E4 - Money and Interest Rates > E41 - Demand for Money; H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H26 - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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